Quite the start, huh? Rather boring and lacking any duels, but those will come in time.

To be honest, this fanfic isn't about the duels; it's about the characters, and the main character's relationship with the Pharaoh. I'm intertwining a few things beyond just the Anime for this, so if some things don't add up or the logic doesn't make as much sense, I'm fudging a bit for it to fit for this story.

Disclaimer: RDF1 doesn't own anything in this fic, technically not even the original content.

A Fateful meeting commences.

(Chapter Begin)

The following morning, Maria arrived at work early, she and Seto needed to come to an understanding at least in order to move forward together. The only reason she hasn't been fired yet was because she opposed Yugi, or rather the Pharaoh, his rival. But even that's not enough for job security.

Maria entered Seto's office, to see him sitting behind his desk as usual, but Mokuba was also there, in his own chair, with a slightly confused look as he looked at her.

"Ms. Tamashī, I'm sure you know why we need to speak this morning," started Kaiba.

"Concerning the events at the Museum," replied Maria, though it wasn't a question, they both had more self respect than that, "No, I did not plan this with Ishizu. I was invited myself, rather last minute too. More importantly, what I said last night was true. I told you that my magic was memories: The memories of my past incarnation. She was the best friend of the Pharaoh, while your past incarnation was a Priest who challenged him because he believed the Pharaoh had erred in judgment. What does this have to do with "destiny" and the events of today? Everything... and nothing. You decide how your future will go. Destiny can be changed, I have already seen it. Every day acts of every day people can change. Had Your stepfather never stepped into the orphanage you and Mokuba were in, we wouldn't be having this conversation, or at least not inside Kaibacorp. We could be having this conversation at local mall or something similar. But I digress, it doesn't matter if you believe Ishizu or me, it is simply your choice."

Seto grunted, while Mobuka looked a bit concerned. His brother had faced a lot of hardship during the Duelist Kingdom Tournament with Pegasus, not to mention his own Executive Board, but this was heavy even compared to that. Reincarnations was a bit out of his depth.

"This doesn't change the fact that you believe it, from an experience I can't deny you because it's your own," said Seto, focusing his attention squarely on Maria, "So I will ask you this, should we meet Yugi, or rather this Pharaoh again, who would you support? Him, or me?"

"I already made my choice when I applied here. The Pharaoh was my previous incarnation's best friend, and her memories tell me he crossed a line that will take a lot to forgive. It may even take years, even once he figures out what he did," informed Maria, "Anything else on this matter, Mr. Kaiba?"

"No, that will be all," said Kaiba, closing the matter, "Now, where are we on the progress of the updated Duel Disks?"

"We are progressing very well, Sir, in fact..." started Maria, before going into detail the testing phases have done.

(AN1)


Days passed by, and by the weekend, she felt it. The monster her spirit was bonded with; the Pharaoh had finally found her. She smiled, keeping track of where the Pharaoh was through her connection with this card. She made her way over to the Domino Museum in the late afternoon, noticing the Pharaoh was with Téa. Another Memory flashed through Maria as she would recognize that face anywhere.

'Teana,' smiled Maria, 'I should have known. She was always faithful to the Pharaoh. Good thing Téa doesn't have Teana's memories. that would complicate things, in more ways than one.'

(AN2)

Maria followed the two inside and kept her distance, following them even as they headed down to where the tablets were. She kept watch as they looked at the ancient tablet, as Ishizu announced herself to the two. Maria couldn't help but smile at the information she overheard Ishizu give the Pharaoh, nicknamed Yami.

'Ah Yami,' thought Maria, as earlier memories flashed in her mind, 'Those were the days, before the war. Before... him.'

She remained silent as Ishizu gave cryptic messages to Yami, including a spoiler for tonight's event.

"Yami," spoke up Téa, who had been silent during Ishizu's speech, "So that's your name. And you were this Powerful King who saved the world thousands of years ago?"

"Yes, but I still have so many questions," replied Yami, "Wait, my opponent looks like... Kaiba!?"

"So that means that Kaiba was the Ancient Evil Sorcerer you faced off against?" proposed Téa.

"I'm sorry, but there's more to it than that, my friend," said Maria, finally revealing herself to the two, much to their blank looks, "What, no hello for old friends, Yami? I know you have bad memory, but this is ridiculous!"

"Wait, you know Yami?" asked Téa.

"In a way, yes," said Maria, approaching Yami, who looked at her, as if trying to recognize her, "What, nothing to say after millennia apart?"

"Who are you?" asked Yami finally, his gaze suddenly turning suspicious.

"This may not mean much, but I am not your enemy, Yami," said Maria, though her eyes went shifted to a more serious look, "But I cannot forgive what you did so easily either."

"Forgive him, for what? He saved the world!" exclaimed Téa.

"You don't know him in the way I do. He was a different person back when he ruled as Pharaoh. He had to be to protect his people. But not everyone liked the way he ruled. And Seto has a more complicated role to play than you could ever understand," explained Maria, "My name is Maria, but that is not the name you would know from your memories. Do take care, Yami, because you have much to do, not only to save the world, but also earn my forgiveness."

With that, Maria turned and left the two behind, leaving even more questions than before for the two.


Maria didn't know how, but she managed to convince Kaiba to pay a visit with her to the Hospital. It wasn't like he owed anything to her, but for some reason he felt like trusting Maria on this. Tournament preparations were in a fever pitch, but nothing so crucial that Kaiba couldn't spare a few hours on his own... well not exactly alone as Maria was the one who brought him here. Apparently the patient they were visiting was the daughter of a woman who helped her out while she was attending college and she felt obligated to visit the young girl. She was diagnosed with a rare cataracts disease that was causing her to go blind. The most recent email sent to her by Serenity's mother had good news because her brother recently won a lot of money at a tournament recently and was able to pay for Serenity's Surgery, saving her sight.

(AN3)

The room was standard for a Hospital room, and Seto politely stayed back as Maria entered the room first and greeted her friend.

"Hello Serenity, remember me?" asked Maria, a smile on her face as she moved to sit next to the bed that Serenity was sitting up in.

"Maria, is that you?" asked Serenity, as she turned her head to Maria, though the bandages covered her eyes, as she was still recovering from the surgery, "It's so good to hear your voice again. How are things? Did you manage to get that job you were aiming for?"

"Things are good," replied Maria, "And yes, I did get the job I wanted. It's been very busy since my boss was a bit behind due to some... bad decision making in his absence.

Seto grunted while smirking. 'Bad decision making' was putting it lightly, but he was thankful that Maria stayed mum on the details.

"Oh, who's that with you? Did you bring a boy with you?" asked Serenity, feeling like a gossip girl all of a sudden.

"Yeah, no, he's not my boyfriend," said Maria, "This is my boss, Seto Kaiba."

"It's nice to meet you, Serenity," greeted Seto, staying polite.

It's nice to meet you too, Seto," returned Serenity, "I feel like I know your voice from somewhere. Like a dream from long ago. It's weird. Why would I be dreaming about someone I never met, especially in a place I've never been to."

"Oh, does someone have a crush?" teased Maria, getting a blush out of Serenity quite easily, but Seto schooled his emotions before a blush slipped past.

"Hey! I don't even know what he looks like!" exclaimed Serenity, laughing alongside Maria, who chuckled at her expression.

Seto didn't let it show, but hearing Serenity laugh brought on a smile inside of him, one he didn't know why or how.

"It's been a while since we laughed like that," said Maria, moving the subject onward, "Last time I saw you, you were still able to see somewhat, what happened?"

"Oh..." said Serenity, bringing a hand to her bandages, "I'm not exactly sure. Some weeks back I was doing homework as normal but then suddenly it was like someone was ripping my eyes out. I was in so much pain I thought I was bleeding, but when my mom found me, the only damage was the cataracts suddenly progressed aggressively, leaving me completely blind."

Seto paused at this, a memory of his first duel with Yugi coming to mind, and his actions just minutes beforehand. His heart clenched as if a tremendous amount of guilt exploded from inside him, as if he was the cause of her blindness. But that didn't make any sense. Did... did she lose her sight when he ripped Solomon's Blue Eyes White Dragon card? Seto used every bit of training to reign in his feelings before anyone else noticed. Thankfully, Maria was focusing only on Serenity, giving her a sympathy hug.

Serenity's mom came in at that point, and shared a happier hug with Maria.

"Oh my, Maria, what a handsome young man you brought with you," teased Ms. Kawai, only to have a finger wagged in her face.

"No, none of that. Shame on you!" pouted Maria, "This is my boss, Seto Kaiba who I managed to convince to visit Serenity with me."

(AN4)

"Well, it is certainly nice to see you Maria, and meet you Mr. Kaiba, but I'm afraid the Doctor will be here shortly for a checkup and only family is allowed then."

"Thank you. It was good seeing both of you," said Maria, as Seto opened the door for them, "Serenity, I hope I can have you see me again once those bandages come off. I miss hanging out with you!"

"Sure thing! I know what I want to see first after my sight returns, but you are in the top 5 things I want to see after my eyes heal, Maria," smiled Serenity as the two of them left, "And I wish you well, Seto. It was nice meeting you!"

"It was nice meeting the two of you as well," said Seto, as he closed the door on the mother/daughter duo.

They passed a doctor heading back towards Serenity's room as they were leaving. Once they were back in the Limo, Kaiba glared at Maria, "Did you know?"

"Know what?" asked Maria, confused.

"Serenity said her eyesight got worse around the same time I first dueled Yugi Moto. You know what happened that night. Did you know?" explained Seto.

"No," replied Maria, in a serious tone, "I knew she had a cataracts disease, but I never knew it suddenly accelerated. Do YOU think it's coincidence she lost her eyesight the night you ripped Solomon's Blue Eyes in half?"

"If you asked me a week ago, then the answer would be no. But now, after meeting Ishizu, and learning about the ancient past... I can't say that was coincidence," said Seto.

"So you decided to believe in destiny?" asked Maria, an eyebrow raised.

"No, I don't believe in it," replied Seto, "But I know you do. And that's enough for me to pay attention. Though breathe a word of word of this to anyone and you won't have to worry about forgiving the Pharaoh, you'd have a much bigger problem forgiving what I would do to you instead."

"Gee, worse than death threats already," smirked Maria in a teasing voice, "I didn't know you you taken such a shine to me, Seto."

Seto glared.

"Sheesh, Mr. Kaiba," sighed Maria, rolling her eyes, "You're secrets are safe with me."

They continued the trip back in silence, as they got ready for the Battle City Tournament starting up in a few days.

(AN5)

(Chapter End)

And there you go. A brand new story involving the original YuGiOh show. As you can see, I skipped over the absolute mess that was the first season. The "Field Power Bonus," the "Toon immunities," the "elemental immunities," the traps played as spells, the spells played as traps, Monsters as spells; the list just goes on and on.

Alright, on to Author Notes...

AN1: Follow up to the previous night. Seto doesn't have to believe in fairy tales to know Maria does, and with good reason, so he pays attention, and respects Maria enough to take her seriously.

AN2: I am borrowing loosely from Forbidden Memories, and I do mean VERY LOOSELY!

AN3: This takes place after Joey got demolished by the Rare Hunters.

AN4: Sorry, couldn't help myself with that reference.

AN5: Yeah, this is my original tie in. Sure, it's a very loose connection, but I'm stringing it together to make a tighter web... hopefully!

Thanks for reading this story and for reviewing! Don't worry, Duels will come soon enough!

To anyone who hasn't seen the show yet, I would HIGHLY, EXTREMELY SO, recommend watching the original series. The First Season is on Netflix, but all five seasons are available somewhere on the internet. If you have any questions, I'm sure people will help you find the series to watch. Reading this story works better knowing the context of which I am writing about. This idea has been stuck in my head for over a year and it needed to be let out.

For those reading my other stories, I am working on them. I just tend to have other things take priority. I also forget at times. I AM HUMAN, okay! Until next time...

Later,

RDF1